By moving the location of the plot of a novel or literary work, the central plot and details change as well. In the play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, the change of location from the city to the country creates complications that reveal the identities of characters, and exposes their ridiculous lives. By writing these complicated interactions based on the move of location, Wilde adds to the meaning of the work as a whole, which ridicules the trivial and opulent lives of the Victorian period.
When the play opens, Jack "Earnest" and Algenon are waiting for guests in the city. Their beginning physical location is vital. While in London, each man reveals to each other their deceptive aliases. To Algy, his friend was only known as Earnest. However, his real name is Jack, and Earnest is simply a fake identity he uses to get away with mischief. Algy explains his ploy of "Bunburying", or having a fake person to visit in order to escape responsibilities. In London, Jack can escape from his duties of raising a ward and participate in the ludicrous activities of those around him. Algy has family in London, and by changing location he can "Bunbury" and abandon them. By assuming that all others Bunbury too, Algy displays the foolish lifestyle these characters live. To the men, a life that is filled with false identities and trivial conversations is completely normal. By creating this witty dialogue centered around a ridiculous term such as Bunburying and the silly identities, Wilde exposes the ridiculousness of that lifestyle. The characters are more focused on having fun as a fake person and leaving the country or London then they are on family and relationships. Jack is too busy being Earnest in London to be serious about his ward, Cecily. Algy is focusing on escaping his duty of entertaining is aunt, Lady Bracknell.
Next, the plot of the play moves to the country estate of Jack in Hertfortshire. This physical change of the setting is an important element in the tangled identities and relationships of the characters. It is in the country that Jack looses his false name of Earnest and becomes Uncle Jack for his ward Cecily. Algy takes on the false persona of Earnest, who Cecily has created an entire fake romance with. When Jack, Algy, Gwendolyn and Lady Bracknell all come to the country estate, they learn the truth about the others. Because all are now contained in the same location, the false personas and real people all meet up. There is no longer a gap between the country and city for the men who create such elaborate ruses, so they must scramble to sort out the mixture. Jack's unknown background comes to light, because Lady Bracknell went to a new location and found Miss Prism, the wayward nursemaid. However, no character takes these serious truths with any weight. They continue in the foolish manner of fake manners and pompous conversation. The confusion of the characters as "Earnest" is mixed up and romances are quickly ended and begun is quite comical, and it has a purpose. By creating this tangle of identities and preposterous reactions, Wilde shows the outrageous manner of the Victorian time period. When all characters come face to face and learn the truth, they do no act grave or offended. It ridicules the idea of Bunburying and acting with fake manners when there are serious issues at hand.
Audiences roar with laughter when all these preposterous characters interact in such polished and silly manners, and when all meet in Jack's country estate. By having the characters journey to one central location, Wilde creates hilarious conflict that displays the ridiculous and trivial lives of those in the Victorian time period.
